Impact of Gender Composition of Child on Mother’s Perception and Intensity towards Domestic Violence in Punjab, province of Pakistan

Abstract

Domestic violence is an important issue related to human rights. It is an unjust act or unprovoked exertion of force. Violence studies are evaluating the increasing violence and its causes against women but very few studies have been made by incorporating the age and Gender of the child. This study aims to evaluate the impact of the sex composition of a child and the impact of child's age on a mother's perception regarding DV and the intensity of her acceptance of DV in Punjab, province of Pakistan. Data used in this study have been taken from MICS (Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey) 2017 for Punjab. The focusing age group for this study is 15-49 years. The Logit regression technique has been employed to estimate the study objectives after performing the descriptive statistics and bivariate descriptive stats. Individual, demographic, and socioeconomic factors have been used as control variables to estimate the model. Contraception usage increases the prevalence of domestic violence whereas women who belong to higher education levels and rich families, urbanization, and those having a sex ratio greater than 0.5(Boys) are less perceptive towards their partner’s violence. This study recommends improving women’s education and household income to reduce their perception of violence. This study would be helpful for policymakers and political leaders to make new policies to reduce gender discrimination and women violence by introducing more opportunities to educate women, especially in rural areas.